Reviving Kengeri lake: Will Bangalore Metro be third time lucky?

Travellers to Mysuru from the city are unlikely to miss the pleasant sight of a sprawling lake fenced on all sides as they enter Kengeri. The lake, however, lacks the life it once had, and will disappear if not saved pronto. It is seven years since the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) handed over the lake to the custody of the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation (BMRCL) to bring it back to life. This is a sort of CSR activity for BMRCL as it is building a Metro line to Kengeri and a huge station is coming up opposite the 20-acre water body.

The Metro has set aside Rs 7.5 crore to infuse life into the lake.

The challenge for BMRCL, however, has been to find a developer who can do the job. Two of its previous bids have been unsuccessful, and the Metro authorities are hoping the current one to yield results. That they have slightly relaxed the qualification for the bidder has given metro hopes of getting a good response. January 8, 2017 is the closing day for bid submission.

Metro spokesperson UV Vasanth Rao said that though four bidders participated in the last bidding (in June 2017), none of them qualified due to stringent tender conditions. “Previous tenders had a condition which allowed only those people who have experience in lake rejuvenation work to participate. Since we failed to get a qualified bidder, we have now relaxed that condition. Even those who have no experience in lake rejuvenation work can bid now.”

The metro officials explained that giving the contract to even those without experience in lake related works is of little consequence, as the contractor has to work as per the metro’s requirement, and under the supervision of Metro and Lake Development Authority.

Vasanth Rao attributed the delay to two factors. “The first challenge was to ensure that the encroachments were cleared. Then we had an engineering challenge to divert the sewage entering into the lake to the BWSSB’s sewage treatment plant (STP) located near the lake. Preparation of detailed project report too consumed time. Now that everything is in place, we hope we get a qualified bidder who can complete the work in a year’s time.”

The project includes cleaning of the lake, maintaining and monitoring water quality, creating living condition for aquatic life and also to provide a boating facility, jogging track, and amusement facility, among other things.